Jaguar Land Rover Is Said to Scout for Luxury Brand Acquisitions

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This content was published on September 25, 2017 11:41 AMSep 25, 2017 - 11:41

(Bloomberg) -- Jaguar Land Rover, the luxury unit of Tata Motors Ltd., is scouting for acquisitions of international automakers amid rising competition in the industry, people with knowledge of the matter said.

The company has been holding internal discussions on buying other brands to diversify the range of vehicles it sells, the people said. It will consider purchases of luxury marques that fit with its current portfolio, according to one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. Jaguar Land Rover is also weighing acquisitions of technology companies that would boost the company’s efforts to roll out electric vehicles and autonomous driving systems, another person said.

Tata Motors has amassed 397.6 billion rupees ($6.1 billion) of cash and equivalents as of June 30, up 87 percent from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the second biggest among listed Indian companies, trailing only Reliance Industries Ltd., the data show. It plans to use that record hoard to add new products, technology and manufacturing capacity, Tata Motors Group Chief Financial Officer C Ramakrishnan said by email earlier this month.

Senior officials at Jaguar Land Rover’s ultimate owner Tata Group believe the carmaker needs to bulk up to stay competitive, and the Indian conglomerate is willing to provide financial support for potential acquisitions if needed, one of the people said. Any deal would mark the first acquisition by Jaguar Land Rover since Tata Motors bought the brands for about $2.4 billion in 2008, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Tata Motors gets about 78 percent of its revenue from the luxury brands, according to the Bloomberg-compiled data. No final decisions have been made, and there’s no certainty the deliberations will lead to a transaction, the people said. Representatives for Tata Group and Jaguar Land Rover declined to comment.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV is considering options including a plan to spin off the Maserati and Alfa Romeo sports-car brands in order to sharpen its focus on mass-market vehicles, people familiar with the discussions said in August. Volkswagen AG has been weighing the sale of non-core assets including Italian motorcycle brand Ducati, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

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